Aurora man who falsely obtained painkillers may be ordered into drug treatment program

by DAVE O'BRIEN | REPORTERPublished: March 13, 2013 12:00AM

Ravenna -- An Aurora man who forged prescriptions for the painkiller Vicodin and passed them off as legitimate at Northeast Ohio pharmacies over a period of almost a year due to an addiction to pain medication has pleaded guilty to eight felony charges and may receive court-ordered drug treatment as a result.

Siegfried R. Boehm, 52, of Bartlett Road pleaded guilty March 4 to five counts of illegal processing of drug documents, two counts of deception to obtain a dangerous drug and one count of identity fraud, all fifth-degree felonies, in Portage County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Laurie Pittman accepted the plea and ordered Boehm to report to the Portage County Adult Probation Department within 30 days to be interviewed for drug treatment in lieu of a felony conviction. If accepted for drug rehabilitation, Boehm could have his plea, and therefore his felony conviction, erased from his record after undergoing treatment for one year.

Boehm otherwise faces up to one year in prison on each felony charge, though under Ohio sentencing guidelines for low-level and drug-related felonies, it is more likely that he would face the minimum sentence of probation or local jail time.

Boehm, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, previously entered an addiction treatment program with the U.S. Veterans Administration following his indictment by a Portage County grand jury in November 2012, defense attorney George Mineff told Pittman.

Aurora police and Ohio Board of Pharmacy investigators alleged that on 10 occasions between Nov. 26, 2011, and Aug. 24, 2012, Boehm forged prescriptions for painkillers and passed them at Portage County pharmacies.

Boehm pleaded guilty to one count of deception to obtain a dangerous drug, a fourth-degree felony, in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in October 2012, and was ordered by Judge Timothy McCormick to enter an early intervention program for one year, which he was allowed to do through the V.A., according to McCormick's ruling.

That charge resulted from Boehm's arrest by Solon police on Sept. 12, 2012, for trying to pass a fraudulent prescription at a Giant Eagle pharmacy in Solon, according to Cuyahoga County court records and media reports.